December 2001

Dear Friend:

As I hadn't done a letter last year (for obvious reasons), I thought it best to at least write a short note to let everyone know that in spite of this having been an horrific year, I am doing well and life continues.

I have managed to cope by keeping myself as busy as possible (what, Ian? Type A? Anal retentive? I hear you ask!) To that end, I think every closet and drawer in the house has been cleaned out and reorganized about 20 times, I re-wallpapered 14 rooms and all the hallways in the house, installed a large seating area and two colossal sculptures by the pond and in the front garden, put in new outdoor lighting and many new flower beds and needless to say, the house looks wonderful.

The condo in DC has been a lifesaver and I try to head down there once a week to stay the night and see friends. Many of my friends attend a wine tasting seminar on Tuesdays so I have been going to that quite a bit. In fact, the support and care that I have received from everyone has been truly overwhelming and has certainly helped greatly.

Sam, (the little brown dog) died in the spring so in early summer I got another dog. As Thom and I had always wanted a large dog, but were constrained by living in the city, I decided to go the whole hog and now have Thor, a 6 month old, 95 lb, St Bernard/English Mastiff cross! He will be about 160lbs+ by the time he is fully grown so we are doing lots of training, which is working well as he is a very gentle animal.

I have done a couple of trips during this last year but have spent most of my time with friends, which has been wonderful. The family are all well and I have been spending a large amount of time with my nephew Collin, who is also a stamp collector, so we have been playing with that and going to shows together.

Julia took over Thom's company, which was in very bad shape and would have resulted in it having to renege on a number of contracts that he had been paid for but not fulfilled, but she worked for 9 months with no pay, landed all sorts of new jobs and has turned the company around. I am so proud of her and it means that not only does she now have a viable company, she also has preserved Thom's reputation; which means a great deal to me.

The foundation continues to grow! There is over $100,000 in it now and we have made over $11,000 in grants in Thom's name this year. Between that and the web site I designed with help from my friend Rik, this is starting to look great! (If you haven't checked out the site, it is at www.IanGibsonSmith.com.)

My health is excellent. It dropped earlier this year due to the stress of losing Thom and also I was not taking care of myself as well as I should, but I woke up (well, got a kick in the pants from my friends actually!), started looking after myself and am doing much better. I still need to gain another 10lbs or so but feel (and, I hope, look!) fine.

I am looking forward to the holidays, which will be at Val's as usual, and hopefully will do a little traveling next year. (I think a week on a beach in the short term would be very nice!).

Sorry this isn't the usual mix of humorous disasters and bizarre little tales that usually fill my Christmas letters, but it will take a while longer for life to get back to the odd reality that is my life!

My love, thanks and best wishes to you and yours for a safe, happy, healthy and prosperous holiday season and New Year.

All my best